New true crime documentary reveals shocking inspiration for The Wicker Man

A new true crime documentary called The Last Sacrifice shines a light on the unsolved murder that helped inspire a horror classic.

The Wicker Man is my favourite scary movie, and charted high in our list of best horror films of all time.

The 1973 chiller stars Edward Woodward as a pious police officer sent to a Scottish island in search of a missing girl. His investigation uncovers a series of strange local customs and brings him into conflict with Christopher Lee’s local Lord, all of which builds to the devastating denouement.

The film was loosely based on David Pinner’s 1967 novel Ritual, which new documentary The Last Sacrifice reveals has its roots in a shocking real-life murder.

The Murder at the heart of The Last Sacrifice

Anti-Worlds

Directed by Rupert Russell, The Last Sacrifice just screened at Glasgow FrightFest, and details the cultural impact of a crime that was committed eight decades ago, in the process examining England’s dark underbelly.

The murder in question happened on February 14, 1945, in the village of Lower Quinton in Warwickshire. On that day, 75-year-old farm worker Charles Walton was battered to death with his own stick and pinned to the ground by a pitchfork through his neck, while Walton’s throat was cut with own slash hook.

England’s greatest Detective Robert Fabian was sent to the scene, and though he found a suspect and motive, ultimately failed to crack the case. A witchcraft expert investigated talk of the murder being a blood sacrifice to the land, which the tabloids duly lapped up, printing rumors of ritual killing, black magic, and Satanism.

But The Last Sacrifice is less about solving the murder and more concerned with examining what was going on in Britain at the time, and exploring strange goings-on behind closed doors, as well as society’s general unease about who we are and what we’re capable of.

How Charles Walton’s death influenced The Wicker Man

The Last Sacrifice also digs into the influence of Charles Walton’s murder on the folk horror movement, and the British movie industry at large, including how it helped to inspire movies like Witchfinder General, Blood on Satan’s Claw, and The Witches.

But The Wicker Man is the most famous example of that sub-genre, and there are multiple parallels with the case, from a policeman outsider investigating, to apathy among the locals, before they close ranks and become unwilling to assist.

Indeed, as weird as The Wicker Man is, there are elements of the Walton case that are even weirder, and Russell examines them in entertaining fashion by combining knowledgable talking heads with footage from the movies that the case inspired.

The result is a strange, funny, thought-provoking documentary that Wicker Man fans will love, and which has the bonus of featuring “the greatest epilogue ever.” That’s how Rupert Russell framed it at the FrightFest premiere, and having seen exactly how The Last Sacrifice ends, I wholeheartedly agree.

The Last Sacrifice doesn’t yet have distribution, but we’ll update this article with news of a release when it does. In the meantime, check out 5 horror movies based on true stories, or details of a doc called Children of the Wicker Man that played at FrightFest 2024.